Tuesday, March 11, 2008

the corrections. middlesex. brothers and sisters

i wish my family life appeared to me as a story as bittersweet and wonderful and disappointing and perfect as do these moving, strange, improbable, real fictions. family relationships seem to have such potential for definition. in particular, the parent-child relationship is deeply interesting to me. how strange it must be to have a child! i cannot even imagine what it must be like to birth yourself into the role of parent. to be that someone for a someone else. to love someone imperfectly and completely and to receive imperfect love in return.

i don't suppose we can ever really understand our parents until we have children ourselves. reproducing our families, we meet our parents again in our bodies and ourselves in our children.

1 comment:

I'll use the word again- refining- that's how I feel about parenting. Like your poem below- I find myself repeating actions that I don't like but I get another chance to do it again the next day and do it better. *Romans 7:15*